Changing south Cape

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

More than 100 hardy individuals braved temperatures near freezing to walk more than four miles through south Cape Girardeau neighborhoods recently to draw attention to an area in need of revitalization and support.

The march, organized by a couple of church leaders in the area, drew city officials, school officials, representatives of several church denominations and others.

South Cape Girardeau has its share of problems, but it also has a fairly strong core of individuals who see potential for the area and who are seeking help from the rest of the city to make positive changes happen.

Parts of south Cape Girardeau are plagued by drug dealing and other criminal activity. One area, along Hanover Street, has been particularly hard hit by arson, including one fire in which a man died.

Drawing attention to the situation is a worthy endeavor, but the real work will be turning the affected neighborhoods around. That will take more than a display of support. It will take the involvement of the residents of those neighborhoods, residents who have the most at stake.

Momentum from the recent march could propel individuals and groups into action. Now is the time to take action. Perhaps a good start would be to define what it is that needs to be accomplished in south Cape Girardeau, how those changes can be measured and what the timetable should be.

There is hope for south Cape Girardeau, and the march was a good indication of that. Now comes the hard part.

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The HARDEST part indeed. While recently speaking to a college student from out of town, she told me that her parents asked about the crime rate in Cape Girardeau, and they were handed a pamphlet,in that, the mayor himself was quoted saying that Cape was virtually crime-free.WHAT??really??YES.

If you recall, a few months back,the SE MIssourian ran a 3 or 4 part series about Sprigg ST. and life on the South Side of town. Sure they talked to city officials also, who said that things would be done about this and that, and that a low-interest loan program for home repair and beautification was going to be offered to home owners here, but, thats all that was said, nothing else has happened since.

Everyday, I see squad cars and dog-catcher/nuissance officers riding by ALL day long, never getting out of the vehicle.Instead, they drive past the trashy yards,and the tall weeds, and the wrecked and broken down cars parked in the front yards,the condemned houses that are falling in.I'm sure we have ordinances against such filth, but who is going to enforce them? The nuissance officer instead, will turn the other cheek or act there is nothing there.

Getting attention to this end of town takes something horendous to happen, like the rape of an elderly woman, or a drug bust. With all of the gas that the police waste riding around the neighborhoods down here, you would think that this neighborhood would be crime free, but no,far from it,the loud stereos,kids in the middle of the street-cussing you because they have to move, the open containers, the free-air drug dealing, all of this needs to be addressed and ended. But i have always said...we are the south side, if this was on Lexington or the Downown area, there would be no such incidents of this measure. Then you have the people who say, just move on the other side of town. For What? To get away from it?? Or to show that you give up fighting for your neighborhood? We have a city council man, who has no clue of whats going on here-and will not return your calls, we have a mayor who probably dont even know the name of the streets here, and we have an even bigger problem of trying to get help here. During the 'heavy rains' that we had in the earlier part of the year and the effects of the storm that hurricaneIke brought, the south sides limbs sat, some for over a month trying to get picked up.

I believe the philosophy of the power-hungry people in charge of this city is 'Keep the money and power north of the new highway 74, push the poverty,minority, drugs and crime that way, and we can keep them out of sight and out of mind'

You may want to call me wrong for this,but thats why this is the opinion section.

-- Posted by my#1fan on Wed, Dec 17, 2008, at 5:29 PM

The arson,in which a man lost his life, was at a home,which is owwned by a felonious state representative, and that structure still stands as the day it burnt...